Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Ethiopia's 9/11

What would you do if fanatics in your town killed some of your Christian friends and burned your church down?

About a year ago while we were commemorating 9/11, Muslims went on a rampage in the region of Jimma, Ethiopia. Many evangelical believers were killed, as well as members of the Orthodox church. Churches were burned. Other churches were turned into mosques.

But our friends in Ethiopia did not shrink back, they moved forward.

"TA" shared with me during our visit in Ethiopia that God brought great glory to Himself out of that persecution. The persecution was followed by a wave of miracles confirming the gospel. People were physically healed as evangelists preached. Some of the Muslims who killed Christians had visions of Jesus as they worshipped at their mosques. Several accepted Christ as their Savior, and then testified to others about the visions they had had.

Evangelicals banded together and shared clothes and encouragement with evangelicals and Orthodox alike. Because of that, evangelicals have been invited into Orthodox churches to preach the gospel.

There are now 520 Kale Heywet (Word of Faith) churches in this region. Their goal is to plant 300 new churches in the next 5 years. Please pray for them as they work to train enough new leaders to pastor these new churches.